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Research on a vessel that has been intentionally frozen in Arctic sea ice will be affected after a team member on land tested positive. Plus: Iron rain falls on an ultra-hot giant exoplanet and the emotional and professional toll of long, drawn-out peer reviews.

COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak

• Research on a vessel that has been intentionally frozen in Arctic sea ice since last October will be affected after a team member on land tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. The rotating crew of some 300 polar scientists on the Polarstern get tested for coronavirus before they arrive on the ship. For now the missions leaders are confident that the infection was caught before it reached the vessel — but it will delay some research. (Nature | 4 min read)

• “Aim to create a sweet spot between complacency and anxiety, as well as moderate disgust.” That’s just one of the behaviour-change principles — create the right level and type of emotion — that four behavioural-health researchers give in their guide to slowing down COVID-19. The other principles are: make a mental model of transmission, create new social norms, replace one behaviour with another (don’t touch your face — instead keep your hands below shoulder level) and make behaviours easy (grab your tissues when you grab your keys). (BMJ blog)

Features & opinion

Nuclear physicist and polymath Freeman Dyson’s influence spanned physics, disarmament, politics, culture and even science fiction. While still a student, he provided the mathematical grounds for quantum electrodynamics, or QED, to explain the interactions of elementary particles. The design of a safe, popular nuclear reactor, the adaptive optics used in many telescopes and 50 years of US government advice were among his many legacies — as well as a contrarian view of the impact of climate change.

Neurophysiologist Nancy Wexler spent her career chasing down the gene, discovered in 1993, that causes Huntington’s disease — the genetic condition that killed her mother, uncles and grandfather. Now Wexler has gone public with the fact that she has Huntington’s herself. Much of the reason is to raise awareness of the poverty and stigma faced by some extended families in Venezuela with high rates of the disease. Thousands of people from these groups contributed samples that led to the discovery of the gene and to the promising treatments in the clinical pipeline — and Wexler wants these people to benefit, too.

The peer-review process can sometimes take years. During that time, lines of research are abandoned, grants are harder to win, and researchers feel unable to compete for fellowships and jobs. Four researchers across different fields share the emotional and professional cost of drawn-out peer reviews and how things could improve.

Flattening the curve — slowing the rate of coronavirus infections so that the health-care system can cope — is super important. Cattening the curve is super important and includes added cats! Thanks to epidemiologist Anne Marie Darling for meme-ifying a graph we all need to see.

Like many of you, efforts to slow COVID-19 mean I’m working from home. Let me know your favourite video conference backdrop — and guess which Nature editor prefers a life-sized cardboard cutout of Idris Elba — by email at briefing@nature.com. And if you’re in less cosy surroundings, or facing difficulties, you have my very best wishes.

Flora Graham, senior editor, Nature Briefing

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